Oregon Movies, A to Z

Is Matt McCormick the first Oregon director to have a film included in MOMA’s New Directors/New Films series?

From the listing in the 2011 New Directors/New Films lineup:

McCormick’s debut feature SOME DAYS ARE BETTER THAN OTHERS is a poetic character-driven film that asks why the good times slip by so fast while the difficult times seem so sticky. The film follows a trio of stranded characters that seem to be competing for first prize in a Saddest Job in the World contest as McCormick insists on the reality of work, distinctly rebutting the popular image of Portland as a paradise for under-achieving hipsters and the slacker ethos of “the unemployed, blissful lifestyle.”

New Directors/New Films runs March 23 – April 3.

Filmmaker Magazine asked McCormick how he came to make his first feature.

Filmmaker: How did the financing and production come together?

McCormick: I probably spent two years writing, and I had been in touch with [producers] Dave [Allen Cress] and Neil [Kopp]. They were aware I was writing a screenplay, and their timing was opening up around the time I was feeling ready. It was actually Gus Van Sant who helped bring the three of us together. He had read the script, and he said, yeah, you should make this movie. After that it went pretty quickly, but the slowest and longest part was the fundraising, and even though it was super-low-budget movie. We spent eight months trying to find the money.